Initiating Neural Handshake

Rating: 10/10 (13 July 2013)

Pacific Rim is by far the best movie of the year. Guillermo Del Toro has once again proved himself to be a master of cinema. From the very beginning you are immersed in a world that every child dreams of, where giant monsters and robots duke it out for the fate of our world. The story centers on Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam), a retired Jaeger pilot who is brought back into the world of combat by Stacker Pentecoast (Idris Elba) who hopes to bring and end to the kaiju once and for all in the form of a giant nuke to the kaijus passage to our world, the Breach. Raleigh begins by finding his co pilot in the form of Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) who, much like Raleigh, has quite a troubled past. Together they must link there minds in something called a drift in which they share there memories with one another in order to gain control of their jaeger, Gypsy Danger, an old Jaeger once piloted by Raleigh and his brother Yancy before its destruction.
But the main attraction of this movie is the giant building crushing, plasma blasting, earth shaking battles between the Kaiju and the Jaeger. The visuals in this movie are gorgeous, unfortunately i was unable to see this film in 3D. But, with or without 3D the battles in this movie are breathtaking. The kaiju are truly terrifying and each one is different than the last. The Jaeger are also quite astounding, the main jaeger that are shown in this film are Gypsy Danger, piloted by Raleigh Becket and Mako Mori. Stryker Eureka, piloted by Herc Hansen (Max Martini) and his son Chuck (Robert Kazinsky). Crimson Typhoon, piloted by the Wei Tang triplets (Charles, Lance, and Mark Luu). And Cherno Alpha, piloted by the Kaidanovsky's (Robert Maillet and Heather Doerksen).
There's also the matter of Dr. Newton Geiszler (Charlie Day) a scientist obsessed with the kaiju, and his counterpart Gottlieb (Burn Gorman). Geiszler believes that if he is allowed to use the technology the jaeger pilots use to drift with each other, he will be able to drift with a piece of a kaijus brain. He attempts this process and nearly kills himself but learns that the kaiju are merely the extermination team sent to destroy the human population so there masters may take over the planet, when Pentecoast hears about this, he asks Gieszler to drift with another kaiju brain, which gieszler does not possess. Stacker then sends him to find Hannibal Chau (Ron Perlman) a black market dealer for Kaiju parts and get another kaiju brain. Geiszler and Gottlieb then continue to drift with the kaiju brain and find out the only way to get through the breach is to somehow trick the breach into thinking whatever is passing through is a kaiju.
In a last ditch effort the two remaining jaeger, Gypsy Danger and Stryker Eureka, now piloted by Chuck Hansen and Stacker Pentecoast, head under water towards the breach where they are attacked by two category 4 kaiju. During this battle Gypsy Danger is damaged severely but manages to kill one of the kaiju, as Stryker Eureka approaches the breach with the nuke on its back, a category 5 kaiju emerges, the largest kaiju ever on record. Realizing they have no chance Chuck and Stacker decide to detonate the nuke to clear a path for Gypsy Danger to enter the breach and detonate its nuclear core. After the nuke is detonated Gypsy heads towards the breach only to be stopped by the category 5 kaiju who is then tackled, stabbed, and burned by Gypsy Danger who proceeds to take the kaiju body through the breach in order to pass through. Once on the other side Raleigh, realizing Mako does not have much oxygen left, gives her his oxygen and sends her back in an escape pod. Raleigh then detonates Gypsy Dangers core and enters his own escape, barely making it through the breach before Gypsy explodes and destroys it. Mako and Raleigh then exit there escape pods and embrace each other, realizing the kaiju war is finally over.
If you have not seen this movie yet, I would suggest you head to the nearest theater ASAP and watch this fantastic piece of art. Truly the best film of the year.